The Winning Smile
by Insipid Inane
Summary: AU I sleep, I wake up, I go to school. I've done this countless of times. Why is this time so much harder to do it? "You can't make me smile." He asked,"Is that a challenge?" She replied,curtly,"Maybe."


**Disclaimer:**Here's the drill. I own some things just not this thing. All uses of the characters are the property of **Masashi Kishimoto**. I Insipid Inane claims property of 'The Winning Smile' and what not. Go on now, read people...

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**The Winning Smile.**

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_In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. __  
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School is a nuisance. She did not even know why she even bothers to come in the first place. Then again, maybe she did. A little bit. Standing in front of the ebony colored door she mull over the thought of skipping school over and over again. She chose to stay. You know, when you get one of those feelings. Those sudden fluttery in your stomach or maybe the _dup-dadup-dup_ thudding in your heart, beating hard against you chest, like it knew something imminent. How unfair it has been. The inside of you churns as if to say, come on already. Step on it and just push the damn door already, and finally ending the sneer that had been going on for about a minute from your inside. She braced herself as she sucked in a lungful of air and pushed the wooden door lined with silver lining at the edges which is going to introduce her to another life, again.

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_Alright, firstly, why is it so dark? Like I've fallen into some sort of an abyss. My head hurts. Did I fall down the stairs again? Secondly, the whispers. Soft as it should be, but why are my ears ringing, buzzing non stop? Am I already in hell? It was as if somebody had been shouting straight into my eardrums, piercing through my ear canals, and finally reaching the cochlea for an hour non stop. That bad. I tried to discern the whispers which turned out to be voices. The first two was the closest to me. So I tried hard to concentrate on those first._

"Naruto…" two voices spoke at the same time. The faint sigh that escaped the softer speaker said it like an explanation, while the strained one said it like an expletive.

"Baka," the next one chided loudly as if they were both across the room, though the fallen girl could hear it perfectly fine because he was standing, she guesses, on her left side.

"I wasn't intending on harming her, ya know. If I knew it wasn't Miss Kaka, I would have stop. Really." The speaker groan in pain after a thump could be heard a few seconds earlier. He grunted as somebody whispered to him inaudibly, probably to keep it from being heard by the fallen girl.

Somebody pressed lightly on her neck right on the artery expertly searching for her pulse. "No worries. Its steady." A gruff voice said suddenly.

"She's not dead, you moron." Another voice lazily voiced out, as if stating a fact. "You never know," she replied, clipped and then continued on, "If it's The Idiot here doing a backslapped while expertly doing a double back flip and forgot to release the paddle on time. You never know." The light pressure was gone and she made up her mind to just open her eyes and gaze upon the world in wonder.

_'Alright, so many people hovering over me relentlessly. Need space. The light is so bright. So… blinding. Like somebody had just pull a visor before me emitting light rays from all sides. Okay, maybe that is a little exaggerating but really, a visor?' _She stood up as her gaze swept the entire classroom.

"Finally… I thought you were going to sleep forever, sleeping pinky." A boy with grayish-white-like-the-whiteness-of-a-snow hair said with sarcasm dripped heavily in the sentence. "Though that just leaves me an opportunity to steal a kiss from you then, my fair lady." But she was paying less attention to the flirting boy as she tried unsuccessfully to find her belongings. _'Where is that duffle bag?' _she thought, frustrated of her less concerning part of the brain. She sucked in a lungful of air and thought back to the few seconds of the crashing. She remembers it flew past her and… Hah. She relaxed her posture and turned to face the door. She pushes open the ebony-colored door and unexpectedly tensed.

Before anyone could blink, the swoosh sound as the air was expertly sliced in a matter of second could be heard. Something collided with it and a grunted sound could be heard from behind the wooden door.

"Do not," She said faintly making sure he strain his ears to hear the words clearly, "even try to lay a finger on things that aren't yours." The sentenced heavily dripped with annoyance left her lips. Then she proceeded to pick up the duffle bag and turned fully to face the person.

Her eyes widen for a fraction and she blinked. She managed herself to utter a full sentence of apology. "I'm really sorry mister for knocking you down." She began her sentence.

"Kakashi." He replied. "You can call me Mister Kakashi." She paused.

"Very well then Mister Kakashi," His eyes crinkled in merriment as he saw her observing him, maybe measuring him up- as a threat maybe? Unperturbed while she kept track of the twitching and tensed stances in a few of the students in her peripheral vision. Luckily enough, her sane part interpolate and blurted out casually again while rubbing the back of her head, "Ugh. I'm very, very seriously sorry Mr. Kakashi." She said while bowing non stop until she felt like her neck was not complying, then she fully stopped.

"No need for the apologies, miss…"

"Sakura Haruno," She said smoothly not missing a beat. She likes to play this game. Nobody ever win against it.

"Alright class, back to your seats," he said casually with the lazy tone as he stride into the class with nothing but a small book and a pen. She wondered what it's for, for a clear ten seconds. Then, the matter was pushed back, back to the back-part of her mind. She shrugged it off casually not bothering to think about the less concerning things though it was quite registered on her mind. "_Damn these eyes_," she managed to nag.

"Miss Sakura, would you please introduce yourself to the class first." Her sane part left her somewhere along the way. Mister Kakashi eyed her lazily though his eyes are fully hidden behind that small book._ 'Hmm. Where had the pen disappeared to?' _she ponders upon the subject for a moment before beginning her introduction.

"My pleasure, Mr. Kakashi." Her tone was somewhat pleased and delighted as she turned and faces the whole class. _'Hmm. So many students or is this considered normal in this place.' _She eyed them casually and started off with a simple hello.

She relaxed casually and let her senses wander. Then, she began. "I am Sakura Haruno also known as… never mind." Mister Kakashi raises a fine eyebrow at this but she picks up where she has left. "I have been living across the world for as long as I can remember. I love to travel to new places. I adapt real easily." That's it for her oxygen supply and she drew in another lungful and continued. "I love to fly and I love to observe people and study them. For me, people are… fascinating." She stops to look at them and then continued, "I just utterly hope that all of you can accept me here and assist me."

She ended her speech with a small smile lingering on her full lips for a second.

"If there are no more questions, Miss Sakura, you can take your seat at an empty desk third from my right on the back row." Enunciate Mr. Kakashi verbally.

'Hmm. I have a distinct feeling that this teacher and together with this class is going to turn out exactly just like my reassessment over this matter.'

The teacher opens his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by a girl with funky hairdo. "Bye kiddies. See you later, Not." She threw a kiss at them and was responded with three blank faces, a bored-out-of-the-wits expression along with whistles and howls of flirtations excluding the teacher. She exited the class followed by her peers including the white haired dude.

He coughs a few times to get the whole class's attention. "For those who do not know, I'm your Homeroom teacher, Kakashi Hatake." He paused for a second and resumes to the matter that he wanted to discuss. "Alright people, first things first. Remember the program that I've told you about? It actively takes place after you all get enough information on the requirements needed and after you know who you'll be working with. The program is simple. It's either you are leading or being led by.'

A sun kissed haired boy wail. "…what? That doesn't even make sense, Miss Kaka. You suck." Naruto point a finger at him while grinning victoriously.

The teacher shot him a look and offhandedly pronounce, "Detention, Naruto."

The azure-eyed boy stuttered out, "B-But I'm in the track team and we have practice after school today. Miss Zaza will kill me for sure I don't show up." He continues to whine.

"Naruto, I don't think Mister Zabuza appreciates that you called him and me 'Miss' and nicknamed us stupid moniker." A brunette bark out booming laughs and snickered at his friend's grim expression.

"Well since you'll need a companion, Kiba, why don't you accompany him after school too?" The brunette choked on his saliva. This time Naruto stuck out his tongue playfully at him while wiggling his fingers at his poor friend.

"Before I forget, Miss Haruno, you are also in the program. Thanks to your application, this class won't be in odd amount anymore, so, no Naruto, nobody is being excluded." Mister Kakashi continues to give further instructions on the handling of the program whilst the two boys went sulking in a corner, literally.

"It's all your stupid fault, blondie." The brunette smacks the side of Naruto's head and kicks the unfortunate blonde to punish him. Then he went huffing and moping again of his adverse luck.

The teacher sighs at the sight of the moping boys. "Kiba, Naruto get back to your seat and stop sulking like a girl." The teacher ordered. A cerulean eyed girl piped in. "Yeah, dopies. You both got balls. Take it like a man, _why don't cha?_" She pumps out her fist at them.

The whole class erupts in booming laughter.

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_'Don't get me wrong. I wasn't dejected to have him as my mentor but that's just it. How could he, of all the whiz kids that were cramped in our class, be one?'_

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At one corner of the huge building, two figures are discerned between the oceans of people. A leaning form was engaged in his own set of reverie. The other was occupied in her train of thoughts while flipping through the piece of paper in her hands. Sometimes the latter shrugged casually now and then but no words escaped her lips. That is until she got exasperated and sighs escaped her lips.

"They said mentors are the leading light, the innovator, the trendsetter… the proficient ones," she mused on. She stared indifferently at the leaflet she's holding on to. "Hmm. At the bottom of it they finished it off with the word, knowledgeable."

The slender, middle-of-the-road girl paused for a moment and stole a look at the towering boy which is a few feet from her. She could not assimilate the thought of deeming this pokerfaced lad as her partner for the month to come. 'They might have my name mixed up with the supercilious batch. Whatever, I guess. Only three more months and I are out of here.' Her lips managed a ghost of a smile as she remembers back at the old days when there was one person who could make her really smile.

The murky unkempt hair tousle as the gentle wind blew past him. That was the first time she saw those captivating set of eyes. So… mesmerizing. They say to never let it get to your head but she could not stop herself from going under. Though her eyes are skimming through the thinning crowds dashing past them, she couldn't help but wonder where had his mind drifted to. She could not help but formed a tiny smile. Those impassive set of eyes. It could lead her to her downfall. And those set of eyes are on her in an instant. She couldn't help but wonder what was in his mind at the moment but shrugged it off. It may take her a while to think of an answer that fits but when she noticed him again, he was on his way out through the main entrance to the school.

"Hey, wait. I didn't get your name." She asked abruptly.

He stopped and stared at the questioner for a brief moment as if speculating something before responding, "It's already stated in the leaflet." And then, he was gone not a moment too soon. She noticed he had such velvety voice to die for.

Anyhow, she flipped through the leaflet to find that it was really in there; page 2, under the mentor's bio number 4, line 7, written in bold letters. She blinked.

_'Well, so much for the first set of impressions. Still, I get to hand it to him, though he seems cold and distant, he did try to be friendly, in his very own way I guess.' _But remembering those impassive eyes staring intensely at her, she quickly brushed of the thoughts._ 'Then again… maybe not.'_

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_Uchiha Sasuke. 17 years old. Took Calc. II and Engineering as extra classes. …and plainly likes… _tomatoes.

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**A/N:** So this is another story. I'm not going to pressure you people (Read and Review people!) please appreciate my efforts people. I'm still testing the waters-whether it's going to be hit (meaning read by people) So, go on and review and leave some feedbacks...

Till then, your friendly author~

_~Inane~_


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